[pianotech] elbows

[tnrwim at aol.com]

I know a lot of you replace the old plastic elbows with the new snap ons. And, like Laura, even do this with the action in the piano. In regard to the latter, because of my girth, I find it very uncomfortable doing anything on a drop action, much less replacing all the elbows. 

As far as the snap ons, although they are much better quality plastic than the old type, they are still plastic. Somehow I just can't justify replacing plastic with plastic. So put on wood elbows. But by putting on wood elbows, I do more than just replace those parts. 

I remove the action. By doing that I also have to remove the keys. When those are removed, it also gives me a chance to vacuum under the keys, and I often vacuum the bottom of the piano. I take the action home, and do all the work on my bench, which is well lit, and I have all my tools and supplies at hand. 

Before I install all the elbows, i first tighten all the screws and file the hammers. The procedure for replacing the elbows is as follows. I remove as many of the old plastic elbows from the wippens with needle nose pliers. I then remove all the center pins. For putting on the wood elbows, I put the elbow in a vise, chuck the wire in a drill, and, zip, screw it on.  If the button is too high, I turn it down a little. After all the elbows are on the lifter wires, I install the elbows back on the wips.

With the new elbows in place, I put the action back in the piano*, install the keys and regulate.  *Even if you strap the wires to the action, to prevent the sticker wires from getting jammed between the balance rail pins, I drape newspapers of the key bed. Lay the stickers on the newspaper, and the action will slip right in. 

As I said, replacing elbows is more then just replacing elbows. It's a complete action and piano cleaning and regulation job, for which I charge around $500, plus tuning. And most of the time, the piano also requires a pitch raise.  When you're done, the piano not only sounds great, but plays great, too. And the customer will be very happy with the end result. 

Wim




 



-----Original Message-----
From: Marshall Gisondi <pianotune05 at hotmail.com>
To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Thu, Nov 22, 2012 7:28 am
Subject: [pianotech] elbows


HI Everyone,
Wnen it comes to elbows, I've never heard of using a heat source.  I just take plyers and crunch crunch crunch :-)  At the school we were taought to take a vice grip and place it on the lifter wire on the point where the original elbow was so we knew how far to screw on the replacement plastic ones if we used them.  I have and they do well.  I know some believe in the wood ones which are harder to install.  Like one tech told me out here, the plastic replacemetns will out live me and the customer.   Have any of you done an elbow job in the customers home without taking the action out?
Marshall
215-510-9400
 		 	   		  
 
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